ANDRE BARBIER | Falaise à Étretat par temps Clair
Oil on Canvas
46 x 61 cms / 18 x 24 inches
Signed 'André Barbier' (lower left)
A vertical wall of chalk cliff occupies the right of the composition, its pale surface banded with horizontal strata and interrupted by a dark, oval recess near the base. Above, a narrow strip of grass and low shrubs crowns the precipice, set against a clear, high sky. To the left, the sea stretches uninterrupted towards the horizon in graduated tones of turquoise, blue and violet, its surface lightly flecked with broken strokes. The viewpoint is elevated, looking obliquely along the cliff edge so that the mass of rock contrasts with the open expanse of water. The paint is laid in varied touches, from small, directional strokes describing the layered limestone to more fluid handling across the sea. Painted during the artist’s campaigns on the Normandy coast, Falaise à Étretat par temps clair forms part of a sustained study of the site’s distinctive geology under differing atmospheric conditions.
Inspired by his Impressionist forbears, André Barbier delighted in depicting verdant forests and luminous seascapes at different times of the day and in a variety of atmospheric conditions. Like many of his contemporaries in early nineteenth-century Paris, Barbier travelled extensively in pursuit of subjects for his landscapes.
In 1916 Barbier met Claude Monet and the two artists immediately struck up a friendship. Monet was so taken with Barbiers works that he sponsored an exhibition of his works with a preface by Monets biographer and friend, Gustave Geffroy, who urged him to build of mist and light, a world of poetry. Although a follower of the Impressionists, Barbiers style is wholeheartedly distinct. Barbier built up compositions using delicate layers of paint in a post-impressionist manner, often using a flickering outline to the forms within the landscape and imbuing his compositions with a delicate haze of light.
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